Dave’s Trip To, Around and Into Australia, Sept. 26 – Nov. 23, 2016

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 11, Apia (Cont.)

 

 

The ship moored across the harbor from town center. Here is a shot across the harbor, and a zoom-in on the beautiful Catholic cathedral, which lent an incongruous Bavarian air to the shoreline, I thought:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a pretty typical day for the tropics in October – sun, clouds, light rains, downpours … and that was just the first hour. Our tour split among small buses and we set out. We drove about a mile or so, though town center, to the central bus stop, which was next to the fish market. I took a shot of Maasdam back across the harbor:

 

 

 

 

And a couple of photos of the buses and bus stops. Unlike many jurisdictions, the official buses on Upolo island (largest I believe of the many comprising Samoa) are not all the same color scheme – there was some individuality being displayed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

Edited October 11, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 11, Apia (Cont.)

 

 

And then we walked into the fish market, which had a fine array of wares, including clams, lobsters, wahoo, tuna, octopus, etc.;

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, if all you wanted was a fish head, you were in luck, too:

 

 

 

 

We then drove further out to the meteorological station and were able to walk along the sea wall. Here is a photo I took of the small beach there:

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 11, Apia (Cont.)

 

 

Our next stop was the produce market, which also had stalls selling other goods. Across the street were a small department store/mall and a supermarket. Here are a couple of photos of the produce market:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we drove to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, which is the house ne built in the 1890s and in which he died in 1894. It is a fine structure, and many of the rooms were open for viewing. Here are some interior shots, including one of a statue and painting of the writer (the guide said the painting reflects the light and dark sides of Stevenson, in keeping with his story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

Edited October 11, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 11, Apia (Cont.)

 

 

After touring the house in small groups, we gathered in a large covered area (with restrooms nearby), and took part in a traditional kava ceremony. Several passengers were offered the ceremonial drink:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, the performers played music and danced, sometimes very energetically. I took several photos, and here are the ones most in focus (:D)

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good excursion of about three hours, and while the fish and fruit all looked enticing, we did not buy and bring any back to the ship. But, we were able to learn a bit about Samoa and its people.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 11, Apia (Cont.)

 

 

We looked at the dinner menu for tonight and had two reactions:

1) It had a really cutesy-wutesy Hollywood theme where every dish had a film-related name (“Oh, gag me” was our consensus reaction to the theme).

2) The list pretty much constituted “yuk” night for us, when we would probably have had the always-available steaks.

 

So, as we walked by the Pinnacle en route to dinner, we noticed a staff member outside and nobody at any tables, so we asked if we could have a table for two for 5:30 seating (i.e., now). Turns out we were right – they did. So we enjoyed a rib eye with asparagus and brussels sprouts, accompanied by Columbia Crest Grand Estates merlot in the Pinnacle for dinner tonight. We enjoyed the dinner very much at our table for two along the window, where we could watch some of the other islands of Samoa as we passed by.

 

At any case, here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[erewhon]

The menu sounds like a good reason to dine at the Pinnacle Grill.

[Karennella]

Cherry pavlova! Oh dear!

[RuthC]

We looked at the dinner menu for tonight and had two reactions:

...

2) The list pretty much constituted “yuk” night for us, when we would probably have had the always-available steaks.

I have checked every menu you've posted, and most of them have constituted "yuk" for me. More often than not, the "always available" was the choice. :(

What I find strange is that when I read what is offered on another HAL cruise sailing right now in the same ocean, it's as if it were a different line! Night and day difference.

 

I don't get it.

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 12, at sea

 

 

We have a day at sea between Apia and Suva, Fiji. Here are the first four pages of today’s On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 12, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

kftw and dmcfad2,

 

 

To get back to you both, I earlier passed on your greetings to Ayep, and his assistant Ronny. They were pleased to be remembered.

 

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 12, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

I just realized that I had scanned the Explorer sheet on Apia, but did not post it yesterday. Here are the two sides of the sheet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RuthC]

Annie Francis puts on a good show. You're in for a treat.

I've noticed that she tends to perform on HAL ships in the Pacific, but don't believe I've ever seen her on other itineraries.

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 12, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

I was able to scan the Canaletto menu. It hasn’t changed recently, so far as I can tell:

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, I did notice that they have a flyer each day advertising a special dish. It doesn’t change every day, only now and then, and I’ve seen repeats. This one is for spaghetti alle vongole veraci e gamberi (with clams and shrimp):

 

 

 

 

The dish/recipe is a real Italian one, and the photo looks right. We haven’t tested it yet, though. Other specials I’ve seen have been a lamb dish and one with grilled sea bass.

 

 

The Pinnacle has also been having special nights, like the usual Le Cirque, which it is repeating because the first was so popular, and a Cellarmaster’s dinner, but it is having one Friday that I have not seen on HAL before – a night featuring Indian cuisine. Here is the flyer advertising it:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Carnevale]

I want to add a note of thanks to the many others who have posted here. Your blog is excellent! Having all of the menus and daily programs is a great way to get a feel for what is being offered. We are particularly pleased to see so much music/dancing time in the Ocean Bar however, as we'll be on Westerdam next week which has BB Kings, I'm wondering if we'll get as much Ocean Bar dance time as you have...fingers are crossed that we will!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to post and for being so reliable in posting - Ilook forward every day to reading what you have to say.

[fatcat04]

What a treat! Indian cuisine in the Pinnacle. That would be yummy and fun.

 

We have loved Indian food since our poor college days. The local Indian buffet was close to campus, cheap, plentiful and very very good. All of which means we "poor as Job's turkey" college kids who worked our way through school frequented it for a special meal every weekend. :D

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 12, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Since I’ve been talking about food for several posts, I thought I would extend the theme and post some photos of the MDR:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, completely unimportant, but a little detail I thought interesting – they have changed how they provide butter at dinner at least on Maasdam this cruise. Instead of the usual cubes, they now have large thin slabs:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Dave, great blog. What hardware are you using to scan your menus? What settings? I use an Epson V39 using 240 dpi and save as a PDF.

 

Thanks

 

Pete

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kftw]

kftw and dmcfad2,

 

 

To get back to you both, I earlier passed on your greetings to Ayep, and his assistant Ronny. They were pleased to be remembered.

 

 

Dave

 

Thank You!

[erewhon]

Thank you for the dining room photos.

[SeaDog-46]

She is a very good singer & was on Volendam in 2012 on part of the trans Pacific Sydney to Vancouver. Had a chat with her on the deck.

After your current voyage she leaves in Sydney but has a lot of work on HAL into next year.

Amsterdam - 25th Oct to 4th Nov.

Noordam - 14 to 22 Nov, 8 to 14 Jan. 2017, 31 Jan. to 8 Feb, 14 to 22 April.

Maasdam - 25 Nov to 2 Dec, 26 Dec. to 7 Jan, 15 to 22 Jan.

Zaandam - 26 Apr. to 2 May.

[RetiredMustang]

Dave, great blog. What hardware are you using to scan your menus? What settings? I use an Epson V39 using 240 dpi and save as a PDF.

 

Thanks

 

Pete

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Pete,

 

 

My scanner is a VuPoint Magic InstaScan Portable Smart Scanner model PDS-ST420-VP-BX2. Here is a picture:

 

 

 

 

It has settings to scan either as PDF or JPG, and either color or black and white. I scan in color, and as JPG because I can rotate, resize, etc. in Paint and then import to Photobucket. It scans at 900, 600 or 300 dpi. I use the 300 dpi setting, but still have to downsize the images to fit the max 1024 pixel size limit of Photobucket and Cruise Critic.

 

Personal observation: this is a very easy to use scanner, with guides to keep things (mostly) straight. The only drawback is that with the small footprint and portability pluses, there is the max width of about 9 inches (just over A4 size) minus. But, all in all, I am very pleased with it as a great all-around, very portable scanner.

 

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

I have checked every menu you've posted, and most of them have constituted "yuk" for me. More often than not, the "always available" was the choice. :(

What I find strange is that when I read what is offered on another HAL cruise sailing right now in the same ocean, it's as if it were a different line! Night and day difference.

 

I don't get it.

 

 

Oct. 12, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Thanks, Ruth, for rubbing it in! (The dessert picture is payback :D.) Actually, we have seen some of our favorites this cruise; the problem is that some of them appear with others on the same night, such as when I had to choose between prime rib or the calf’s liver (OK, some are thinking “yuk” but I really like both). Other nights, we try to find something to order, without a lot of enthusiasm. Then, we realize we are on a dream bucket cruise of 52 days to places we could never have imagined visiting when we were (much!) younger, so we shut up whining … (for a couple of minutes or so, at least ;).)

 

So, here are tonight’s dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

DW had the bean and sausage soup as starter, while I went with the mixed lettuce. For main dish, DW had the beef stew and I had the braised chicken. For dessert, DW had the Sacher Torte, while I had the Chocolate Delight no sugar added (as if it needed any with the fudge/ganache, etc.). Here is a picture:

 

 

 

It is a half-inch of brownie topped with two inches of fudge frosting, to which they added whipped cream and chocolate shavings (just in case it didn’t have enough chocolate in the dessert already, you know).

 

More later,

Dave

Edited October 12, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[erewhon]

A splendid looking dessert!!

[kazu]

Very much enjoying your live thread Dave.

 

Interesting to see the specials offered by the PG and Canaletto.

 

A nice change IMO :)